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SSTN # 84 - September 21, 2005
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
Bethlehem Drive - Fundraiser & Youth Event
1) Beauty & Outward Adornment
2) Snacks in Sunday School
3) Snacks in Sunday school
4) Adults Like Snacks Too
5) Hurricane Relief
6) Pastor Appreciation
Praise-Amations!
7) Breakfast for Sunday School Class
8) Pastor Appreciation
9) Hurricane Relief
10) Snacks in Sunday School
11) Plagues of Egypt Fear Factor
12) Fear Factor Controversy
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Bethlehem Drive - Fundraiser & Youth Event
A fun and effective way to witness to your community. Visitors drive past
stations which are set up to tell the Christmas story, finally arriving at
the manger scene. Little to no memorization required. For older youths and
adults. Can be used as a fundraiser too.
You will find it listed in the "Christian Skits" section at:
http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com
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1) Beauty & Outward Adornment
>We will be using these verses, 1 Peter 3:3-4, ("Your beauty should not
>come from >outward adornment…The kids will be kindergarten through 2nd
>grade. Any good ways >to demonstrate this verse?
CBH Ministries' Keys for Kids is a wonderful resource. There is a daily
devotional from 10/2/1998 named "Pretty Package" at
http://cbh.gospelcom.net/keys/index.php?ifpSectionID=14&ifpSubSectionID=19 that
shows it's what's inside the package that counts.
Cheryl in SC
--from SSTN: the link
no longer goes to that lesson. However, there
is a drop down list on "Beauty" listed on that page.
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2) Snacks in Sunday School
Hey, I started serving snacks to kids in Sunday School in the pre-school
through sixth grade classes. I was trying to come up with ways to make
Sunday School more exciting and did research on the web. It was suggested
to try and make Sunday School more like VBS. One of the ways to do was by
serving snacks. I only do it once a month, but try to come up with
exciting foods for kids. I did more research on the web and came up with
snack ideas of bagel bites (mini pizza's), pretzels for lent (pretzels
represent praying hands), resurrection rolls for Easter (crescent rolls
with a marshmallow (Jesus body) and cinnamon sugar (spices for body)
inside), Root beer floats [what happens when the Jesus (Root beer) enters
your life (ice cream) - the Holy Spirit enters your heart (foam)], apples
and dip, crackers and cheese, muffins, donut holes, etc. The kids really
enjoy this special treat and the parents have really expressed their
support. The church pays for the snacks out of the Sunday School budget.
We have also used ideas from our mission projects for snacks. When we
were raising money for goats in Africa, we tried goats milk and goat
cheese. When we were raising money for Niger, we tried some dishes from
that country. We also have a breakfast for the kids once a year, a pizza
party for Christmas, and a picnic at the end of the year.
Thanks,
Julie
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3) Snacks in Sunday school
Personally, as a Pastor, I don't believe it is the teacher's responsiblity
to provide for breakfast. If it is a small issue or a big one, it should
be taken to a member of the church's board, and the church should do
something as a whole. Either by adopting the families and providing
groceries on a regular basis or opening a breakfast time for the whole
church.
As for the class itself... you can start off by saying... the snacks are
fine for younger children, but in these grades, 3 and 4, they are going to
begin to act like the older kids.
Have a special time at the end of two months to bring special treats that
have something to do with what you were talking about. Special treats
don't
have to be eats, but making their own stickers, going on field trips
around the block.
If you are going to talk about Noah's Ark, and spend time like three or
four weeks... take a class, and go out on the parking lot, or a school
yard, and measure the size of the ark. Come back in, and have some
animals crackers.
Then nothing until that section is over and try something different to
introduce the next section. Treats need not be expensive, and DEFINATLEY,
not every week.
bw, pastor in ontario
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4) Adults Like Snacks Too
Our adult class has snacks every Sunday. The church provides the coffee
and different people sign up to bring snacks each week. You could have a
sign up sheet for parents to bring snacks to their child's class.
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5) Hurricane Relief
>I am writing from Jackson, MS. We have thousands of evacuees here from
>the MS coast and from the New Orleans area. Most of our shelters......
My daughter, an avid reader, is upset when she thinks of all the kids
having to leave their books behind, and not having anything to read. We
decided that her girl scout troop would collect books for the kids in the
shelters.
Our problem is that we don't know where to send them and how to get them
there. The Red Cross is not taking such donations in this area (only $$),
and I just read in the paper that some shelters are asking people to stop
sending things - they are receiving too much!! We would really like to
help such places as described in the Sept. 13 SSTN newsletter. If anyone
can provide information as to where to send stuff, or how to get it
trucked in I think there are many of us who could use it, not only for our
Sunday School efforts, but also for other groups. Thanks for the
inspiration I find through this newsletter. Keep it coming!
God Bless.
Joanna
--from SSTN: Knollwood Church in Mobile, AL is a major distributor of
supplies. http://www.knollwoodchurch.NET
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6) Pastor Appreciation
Kathy,
How much time do you have? You could do a memory book of children he has
had over the 12 years, photos, mementos, letters from these former
children etc. You could also do a quilt with the same idea, either simply
handprints from current and former children or give them squares to
decorate with something that they remember from SS or VBS or Wed nite
activities that they remember. I can't sew so I like the book better, lol.
Diane/Michigan
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Praise-Amations!
Children will be excited to see their cartoon "mini-movies" come to life
as they roll them between their hands. 27 Reproducible patterns to make
and do with your entire class!
In the Curriculum section:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html
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7) Breakfast for Sunday School Class
Debbie,
I too am in a similar situation....I bring breakfast bars, juice and
sometimes fruit cups
(like for sack lunches at school)
for my children who are all from "at risk" homes and don't get breakfast
and come hungry. I am blessed and can afford this, but you might consider
asking for help from your church - perhaps an adult class or someone could
help out with once a month or even weekly donations....as far as taking
away from class, how can a child learn anything if he's hungry? I use the
time to ask each child: How was your week? Can you name one good thing
that happened this week? Or, I have even read the Bible Story to them as
they ate - which they loved....
If you know the children are hungry remember, Jesus said in as much as you
helped the least of these, you helped me (not an accurate rendition, but
the flavor of the scripture).....This past Sunday, a young man (10) came
to worship around 11 a.m. and missed Sunday School completely - told me he
was so hungry - so I fed him during our Children's Church time (and of
course included the other ones who were there).....I feel this is an
important part of our ministry....How can you "teach a Bible Story" and
ignore the needs of the children? Relationships are the key to leading a
child to Christ.
In His Service,
Nancy
NFlohr5948@verizon.net
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8) Pastor Appreciation
We had a great time last year with our youth for a pastor appreciation
project. We bought a long roll of bulletin board paper from a local
teaching supply store in navy blue and enough precut yellow stars for each
child to have one.
We took a little liberty with the Bible story of Abraham where God told
him his descendents would be as many as the stars in the sky. We glued
all the stars to the banner and had a child's name on each star.
Also, each child made a card for the pastor with specific memories and
sweet stories for him.
You can also find a kind of opaque paper in a scrapbook section at a hobby
or scrapbooking store. I found a nice poem for this occasion but have
also written my own poems for other occasions. The store also has a
variety of paper with designs on them that fit under the opaque paper.
Find a 11x14 photo border and tape the opaque paper with the poem to it
and then add the picture paper to the back of that where it shows
through. Just place the border in a nice frame and it looks like it cost
far more than it did and it makes a wonderful gift.
The banner was hung in the church before service and each child formed a
procession to give the pastor their cards. The teachers presented the
wrapped poem. It went over well and the pastor teared up as he read the
poem aloud to the congregation. We had little money and few helpers, but
it was a nice gesture. Good luck.
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9) Hurricane Relief
The lady in Jackson needs to contact the United Pentecostal Church
Campground in Raymond, MS (Jackson area). Compassion Services
International has set up a command post there. They are also housing
people on the campground.
Everything goes through CSI and is distributed from there (water, food,
clothing, etc.) 100% of All donations to made to CSI
(http://www.upci.org/) go to hurricane victims.
Teresa
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10) Snacks in Sunday school
Bring this to the attention of your SS director, pastor and congregation.
I know churches who feed their SS children breakfast before SS starts.
Perhaps people in your congregation would take this on (great for those
who do not teach and do it before SS. Day old bread stores have rolls and
donuts that are cheap.
Another idea is to send home notes to encourage parents to be sure their
children eat breakfast (most important meal of the day). Many kids eat
breakfast at school 5 days a week, and nothing on the weekend. BUT if they
qualify for free breakfast they often qualify for food stamps, so there is
no excuse for mom not having something on hand.
We have done the "Goodiebox" that Sarah suggested and it works well.
Last - everything you do in SS should be a learning experience, even
SNACK. I insist all snacks served in our SS correlate with the lesson and
it is amazing what our teachers come up with. In addition, I edit SS
curriculum for a publishing company (first and second grade) and we
include snack ideas to correlate with lessons. We only have the kids an
hour (average) each week. Every minute has to count.
If you are not reimbursed for money spent for supplies, turn your receipts
in to your church. You should receive a tax donation credit for these
items and you can deduct it from your income tax each year. It adds up!
All donation to a church are 100% deductable.
Teresa
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11) Plagues of Egypt Fear Factor
We did a Fear Factor game during our congregational picnic in June (it
was dubbed "*Plagues of Egypt Fear Factor*"). Our devotions leader read
the corresponding passages before each task was performed. I don't
think anyone can deny the plagues were gross / unpleasant. Also it tied
in with one of our curriculum stories about the First Passover.
Stunt 1 - for the plague of HAIL (Exodus 9:13-25) - I made a ton of
ice cubes and we dumped them on the grass - everyone had to walk
barefoot on the ice
Stunt 2 - Gross eats - for the plague of BLOOD (Exodus 7:14-24) and
the plague of FROGS (Exodus 8: 1-14) - I bought tiny plastic cups and
we put gummy frogs and ketchup in them - the kids then had to eat them!
Stunt 3 - a time trial for the plague of DARKNESS (Exodus 10: 21-23)
We *blind-folded* each child in turn and then they had to pick up
marbles with their feet and put them into a container - we made it a
time trial, most marbles in 30 seconds.
Hope that helps,
NicC
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12) Fear Factor Controversy
Forgive me but i just can't see the harm in having my teens pick sliced
hotdogs out or pork and beans with their toes. We didnt do anything to
leave any lasting affects on our young ppl. Our games were no where near
close to the tv show. I would never intentionally do anything to cause
distress to anyone, much less the young ppl intrusted to me. They had a
wonderful night ( which they looked forward to for weeks). No one was
forced to do anything that was even remotely dangerous. I love the kids in
my group and always encourage them in anyway i can. We are constantly
doing Bible studies. I think maybe we all should just pray for each other
and agree to disagree. Our FF lock was a huge success but i respect others
right to have their own opinion.
Connie, Tennessee
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